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Sunday, 13 July 2014

The Amazing Spider-Man #2 Review (Dan Slott, Humberto Ramos)

After everything Otto got up to as Spidey in the last year and a bit, when Peter returned, you knew there was going to be a lot of sighing and explaining along the lines of “No, technically it wasn’t me. See…” And that’s what we’re getting in Amazing Spider-Man at the moment.

Anna Maria realises the man she loved was Otto and not Peter, while the Avengers discover the original Spider-Man is back. Electro is doing bad guy stuff because the recent movie starred him and Marvel wanted to give him more face time in the comics, while Peter decides to rebuild the Raft. All in all, a very humdrum return to the status quo.

Arguably the most appealing aspect of Spider-Man is the soap opera side of his life - his tangled love interests, juggling his home life with his superhero life, and so on really appeals to the audience at large. And while it can be compelling for a spell, I’ve grown really bored with it. Filling an entire issue with that kinda stuff, like this issue does, is the fastest way to make me lose interest in Spider-Man, yet I know it has to be done because of Anna Maria. I just wish it wasn’t so tedious to read!

There is some superhero gubbins here with Electro losing full control over his powers and zapping his human magnet of a girlfriend, but who cares? Electro? That dude is one of the worst villains ever!

There’s actually nothing wrong with this issue - it’s well written and drawn by the regular creative team of Dan Slott and Humberto Ramos, and events play out as they should at their own pace - it’s just that after the magic of Superior Spider-Man, it’s so mundane to read about Peter’s Spider-Man once again. It’s like the character took one step forward and now Marvel are hurriedly backtracking.

So me disliking this comic is not because of any artistic failing but just my personal preference - I was never that enamoured with Peter Parker to start with and his Spider-Man was boring long before Amazing Spider-Man restarted. “That old Peter Parker” luck wasn’t cute or charming - it was annoying. Very annoying. After the freshness of Superior, Amazing feels stale. Worse, the fact that it’s doing everything it can to put everything back the way it was before Superior undermines the impact of that series.

I suppose if you were one of those fans who hated the concept of Superior and refused to give it a chance because it wasn’t “your” Spider-Man, you’ll adore this comic. It’s more of the same stuff that Marvel have been serving up for the last five decades, so eat it up guys. But if you liked Superior Spider-Man like me and hoped for that creativity and invention to carry over into Amazing Spider-Man, you’ll be very bored with this issue and, I’m assuming given the direction, the series as a whole.